A lack of information and a narrowing of subjects at A level means students in England are potentially being “locked into” university options they are not happy with, a report has found.
The Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) has found that 28 per cent of university students say they would study a different course or at a different institution given the choice again.
It says “part of the challenge” is that students have to make “important decisions at a young age”, by being forced to pick their A-level subjects – which significantly impacts their degree options – at the age of 15 or 16.
More than two-fifths (41 per cent) of students wish they had taken different subjects at A level, BTEC or an equivalent at 16, including more than one-third of students who took A levels, according to a survey of 1,105 undergraduates conducted for the report.
“Consistently around a quarter of students would have chosen a different course or institution or both. This suggests that students are not being given the opportunity to try out different options or lack full information about what to expect…Lacking full information, there is a risk students lock themselves into a route they come to regret,” the report says.
It cites research from Ucas which found that a fifth of students could not study courses at university which appealed to them “because they did not have the relevant subjects for entry”.
The report further says that higher education providers prefer a “broad and deep curriculum to one that is primarily deep”, so “moderate increases to the breadth of the curriculum may make applicants better prepared, not less so”.
This could see pupils take “four or even five A levels as a default” rather than three, with adjustments made to the content of A levels to support this.
Previous research has found that the “decoupling” of AS and A levels, with AS levels no longer contributing to A level results, has resulted in more pupils choosing all their A levels from a single subject group, and means they are more likely to take three, rather than four, subjects as they start their A levels.
The Hepi report calls the decision to decouple AS and A levels “flawed” and, when asked, more than a third of students (34 per cent) said they would feel “more fulfilled” taking four to five subjects.
The report recommends introducing a “pathways mentor guarantee”, where pupils would be “guaranteed a one-to-one conversation with an expert in careers pathways” who could advise them on the best subjects to take at 16 to “help them achieve their pathway goal”.
School pupils should be introduced to the “full suite of post-16 and post-18 options; unlike some of today’s provision, each option should be given a fair outing”, the report says.
The report comes as a government-commissioned inquiry, led by Becky Francis, former director of the UCL Institute of Education, prepares recommendations that could affect subject choices, qualification types and assessment options.
Josh Freeman, policy manager at Hepi and the report’s author, said some parts of the education system “punch below their weight and should be reformed”.
“It is absurd that the decisions students make at 15 – sometimes with little or no advice and guidance – determine the degree courses and often the careers available to them,” he said.
“One-to-one mentorship and more breadth of A-level and BTEC courses would stop students from being trapped by the decisions they made as teenagers.”
